In the more than 70 years of harness racing at Saratoga Casino Hotel, there has only been one faster mile by a mare than the one Surreal Feeling paced on Wednesday afternoon (May 19).
The Dale Lawton-trained distaffer has been a winning machine over the course of her career, as the six-year-old mare came into Wednesday’s try in the $14,000 Fillies and Mares Open with 25 wins in 74 tries.
Tasked with taking on 1-2 betting favourite Robyn Camden, who dominated in last week’s Fillies and Mares Open, Surreal Feeling powered to the early lead. The speedy mare paid a stiff price to get to the front, as it took a first quarter of :26.4 to secure the top spot. After pacing the half in :56 and with Robyn Camden looming large and closing in, Surreal Feeling just continued to roll with Alek Chartrand in the sulky. The Lawton trainee proved up to the task, and not only prevailed in the feature but actually drew away to win it by better than five lengths.
The margin of victory wasn’t the real highlight from the win though. The final time of 1:51.3 was not only eye-popping, it was record-breaking. Or at least, record-tying. Surreal Feeling is now the co-record holder for fastest lady pacer in track history as her 1:51.3 in Wednesday’s Open matched the time set by Velocity Vespa in 2016 as the fastest for an aged pacing mare in Saratoga history.
Surreal Feeling is owned by Chris Lawton and her trainer Dale Lawton, both of New York. The exacta, with the favoured Robyn Camden second, returned $13.60 while the triple, completed by Casies Believer, paid $30.60. The win was the fifth of the season for Surreal Feeling and her third in a local Open in 2021.
Live racing resumes on Monday afternoon (May 24) with the $32,900 John Mongeon Sr. Memorial Trotting Series Final highlighting that 12-race card. First-race post time is set for 12 p.m. (EDT).
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)